Andy Hagley, from Leatherhead, was using a crane to help load steel scaffolding poles on the truck at around 1pm, when he and two co-workers were sent flying across the road as electricity from the lightning bolt was sent racing down the steel chains they were manoeuvring.

"I didn't hear anything at all until a we had a big bang and a flash, that was it. I went 15 or 17ft off the top of the wagon," Mr Hagley said.

"It [the electricity] came straight down, through me and into the body of the wagon. I have never felt anything like it before in my life. It picked us up and chucked us like we were rag dolls."

Mr Hagley explained how he found himself in a puddle in Park Lane and managed to get himself out of it.

"The paramedics said we were very, very lucky.

"I couldn't feel my hands, feet or legs. It definitely goes down as [an] 'I feel very lucky to be alive' sort of thing."

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Mr Taylor, 26, said he could not recall what had happened, describing the incident as "nuts".

"To be honest I don't know what happened," he said.

"I was landing some scaffolding. The next thing I know there's a massive blue flash and I ended up halfway across the road.

"My eyes opened and I couldn't move. It all happened so fast. One minute I was on the lorry and the next I was on the floor.

"When you're in hospital and you see your family, that's when the shock hits you and you think 'I'm lucky to be able to look at you'.

"I've worked in bad weather before, it's part of the job. You never expect a freak accident like that. You think it's never going to be you."

Kyle's 17-year-old sister, Bethan, said she was "relieved" to get her big brother back home again.

'Pinballed'

Meanwhile, lorry driver Mr Abel, 38, who was tying down the load at the time of the strike, recounted how he was thrown back by the electricity and "pinballed" between the lorry and a the construction site's fence.

"I managed to get up and round to the front, then my legs just went," he recalled.

"It was all so quick. I didn't know anyone else was involved. I could see the other two lying across the road but I couldn't tell you when it all dawned on me."

Like his colleague Mr Hagley, Mr Abel said he realised how lucky he was given the circumstances.

"Ten seconds earlier the chains were on the lorry and it could have been a totally different story. You are talking seconds between life and death.

"It's one of those things, wrong place wrong time, but tough, it has to happen to someone."

Mr Abel said he had neck pain, which was believed to be whiplash from when he was launched into the fence, as well as lower back pain.

The construction site was closed following the incident before reopening on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Churchill Retirement Living said all three men were treated for burns by paramedics before being taken to Frimley Park Hospital. They were discharged on Tuesday evening.